8. Collie #3
We both immediately went to change. Miller ducked into his bedroom, and I headed to the garage and traded my dressy clothes for oversized flannel PJs printed with moons and stars. Then I packed a couple of bags with stuff I thought I’d need for the next day or two, while my van was in the shop.
After a few minutes, Miller joined me. He was dressed in grey sweatpants, and a white T-shirt so pristine that he looked like a commercial for laundry detergent.
He helped me carry the bags into the office before turning to me and asking, “Will you come with me for a minute? There’s something I want us to do.”
I followed him to the kitchen, and after he grabbed two forks, we both took a seat on the barstools.
He opened the lid of the small to-go box he’d brought home after dinner, revealing a luscious looking piece of chocolate cake.
“I wanted to get enough cake for everybody,” he said, “but the restaurant only had one slice left, so I had to go with cannoli.”
“Is this meant to be our wedding cake?”
“That’s what I was going for. I know that wasn’t a traditional wedding ceremony in any way, but I’ve always liked this custom.”
“Because you really love cake?”
He grinned and said, “Yes. But also, I like the way this next part symbolizes two people taking care of each other.”
With that, Miller pierced a bit of cake with his fork and fed it to me, and I did the same for him. It was so touching that it made me emotional, but I smiled and acted like it hadn’t almost brought me to tears.
As we shared the rest of the slice, he said, “You never told me why you go by Collie instead of Collin. You said you’d tell me later when we met, but that didn’t happen.”
“I go by that because it’s what my parents always called me. Since they’re the ones who named me, I figure they knew best.”
“Can I ask what happened to them?”
“When I was six, my dad went in for emergency surgery after he hurt his leg at his construction job. He died on the operating table. It was just this freak thing. He started bleeding, and they couldn’t stop it.”
I took a breath and continued, “My mom died four years later. We lived out in the country, and she smashed into a tree on her way home. There were no other cars involved. She just lost control of the car or something.”
Miller whispered, “Oh, god.”
“She died two days later in the hospital, without ever regaining consciousness. You know how small towns gossip. I heard whispers for years that she did it on purpose because she wanted to end her life, but there’s no way. She absolutely wouldn’t do that.”
I had to stop talking, because I was right on the verge of tears.
Miller rubbed my back to comfort me, and after a while, he said, “When I was reading about your heart condition, I found out that it’s often genetic.
If your mom had it too and it went untreated, she might have hit that tree because she passed out behind the wheel. ”
My breath caught. I processed that for a few moments, and then I looked up at him and said, “I always knew it was an accident, and now I finally have something I can point to that might have been the cause. I know it’s just a theory, but my mom would make random comments sometimes about her heart racing.
It could have been the same thing that I have. ”
Miller nodded. “It makes sense to me.”
As tears welled up in my eyes, I murmured, “It’s wild how your entire perspective can change in an instant.”
In the morning, Miller knocked on the office door, and I sat up and pushed the hair out of my face. When I muttered something that sounded vaguely like words, he opened the door and asked, “Did I wake you?”
Yes. Totally. “No, I was up.”
“Daria’s picking me up in a minute. I wanted to let you know the mechanic will be here at ten, so please let him in.”
“No problem.”
“There are bagels and fresh orange juice in the kitchen. Help yourself, and text me if you need anything.”
“Okay. Thanks, Miller.”
After he left, I hung the heart monitor around my neck like a tacky necklace and trudged to the bathroom before making my way to the kitchen.
It felt strange to rattle around Miller’s house on my own.
It also showed a hell of a lot of trust on his part.
But then, what was I going to do, steal some moving boxes and big-ass computer monitors? Not likely.
He texted me about an hour later to tell me his meeting with HR had gone off without a hitch, and my benefits would be kicking in tomorrow. That should have been good news, but it made my stomach knot up, because it meant I didn’t have an excuse to delay my surgery.
At ten sharp, the mechanic and his assistant arrived in a huge tow truck.
It took them less than fifteen minutes to assess the situation and separate the two vehicles.
They did it by cranking up my van with a jack, then rolling Miller’s car forward about eight inches, until its bumper was out from under mine.
It was so simple that I was embarrassed we hadn’t thought of it.
Next, they hooked up the van to the tow truck, told me they’d have the brakes done by Wednesday, and handed me a business card. As I stood there watching them haul away my home and most of my worldly possessions, I felt more adrift than I ever had in my entire life.